INDIANAPOLIS—On the night the season began, Kevin Ware scored 10 points in a 15-minute appearance against Manhattan, and right there it seemed inevitable his second season with the Louisville Cardinals would proceed far more smoothly than the first.

It rarely is that simple for any young player who agrees to spend his career with Rick Pitino. It’s easy to imagine it’s like climbing Everest. As soon as you think you’ve reached the summit, you look up and see there’s another 10,000 feet above you.

“It’s tough sometimes, but if he’s getting on you it’s not for anything bad,” sophomore guard Wayne Blackshear told Sporting News. “He just knows that you could do better.”

So Ware endured a half-dozen scoreless nights this winter, an indefinite suspension that turned out to cover only one game and a challenge from Pitino, via his weekly radio show to “make some changes as a man.” And it all led to this.

It led to the moment when Ware was needed desperately, and relying upon him turned out not to be a desperate move—even though he was among several Cardinals regulars bothered by colds. In No. 1 seed Louisville’s NCAA Sweet 16 matchup with No. 12 seed Oregon, Cardinals star point guard Peyton Siva kinda-sorta charged his way into a second personal foul just after not quite five minutes. Ware immediately took his place, and filled his vacancy, shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field in the first half as Louisville burst into the clear and punished Oregon, 77-69, to stand one game short of a second consecutive Final Four berth.

“His lift was just big,” Pitino said. “For Peyton to go out and Kevin Ware to step up like that, that just goes to show you how deep we are.”

All-American junior guard Russ Smith took over Siva’s role at the point, and he dazzled with 16 points and only a single turnover—on his way to a career-best 31 points—while Siva remained on the bench, out of danger, for the remainder of the half. Together Smith and Ware were as dynamic a pair as Smith and Siva have been for much of the season, particularly in dominating the Big East Tournament with combined averages of 30.3 points and 9.7 assists.

“Russ kind of just told me to watch and learn from what he was doing, and go from there,” Ware said. “Russ is one of the best players offensively and defensively in the country, so when he’s giving you advice you have to take it.

“Peyton got into the early foul trouble, and I felt like I had to contribute,” Ware said. “There was no way I could go out there and be passive, just another guy on the court with so much on the line. I had to be aggressive.”

Passivity was an issue back in January, when Ware sat out the Cardinals’ home victory over Pitt and Pitino threatened to make that absence linger unless Ware was willing to “improve my attitude, honestly.” The change happened almost immediately. “Indefinite” turned out to be not a very long time.

“He felt like I was always nonchalant. We had a long talk, and he just understands that I’m one of those poker-faced kind of guys,” Ware said. “He didn’t tell me originally that practice would dictate his decision, but I just came in there with a mindset that I can’t waste a scholarship. It’s only four years, and I’m not trying to be in college and then go overseas. I’m trying to live out my dream, make it to the NBA one day.”

On his way to a season-high 11 points—no, make that a career high—Ware gave Louisville (32-5) its first double-figure lead with 11:58 left in the first half, after freshman power forward Montrezl Harrell worked the offensive boards so relentlessly it eventually led to the ball being saved in under the Cardinals goal, the spot that Ware was alone to grab it and power in a bucket as he was fouled.

When the Ducks (28-9) briefly sneaked into a single-digit deficit on a free throw by reserve forward Ben Carter with 2:45 left, Ware picked up a ball screen, drove left around a hard hedge from Oregon’s Arsalan Kazemi and surged down the left side of the lane for a spectacular layup. Carter tried to draw a charge upon Ware’s arrival, but was too late and was called for a blocking foul.

That dream Ware was talking about? The acceleration Ware showed on that play made it seem more like a plan.

“I feel like I’m an athletic guy,” Ware said. “They always get on me how I’m one of the athletic guys in the country, and I really don’t have any dunks, I’m not finishing around the rim. I kind of felt like if I got around the screen and saw a lane to the basket I could attack.”

Oregon proved to be admirably difficult to shake. After the Cards appeared to be in the clear with an 18-point lead on Luke Hancock’s 3-pointer with 9:02 left, the Ducks chopped the lead all the way down to a half-dozen with a 16-4 run that included dunks by wing E.J. Singler and Kazemi.

And who began the job of restoring that cushion? The guy whose freshman season was truncated by academic issues that did not allow him to join the team until the second semester, who entered this game averaging 4.4 points, whose last double-figure scoring game occurred all the way back in that opener against Manhattan.

Ware took the ball near the top of the key, set up his man and soared down the right side to launch a floater he intended to bank into the goal. And so he did, giving Louisville a 72-64 lead. When the Cards were defending their advantage inside the final three minutes and Siva was available with only three personals, Pitino was OK leaving Ware on the floor. He’d earned it.